Do you really need to keep all of your important contracts in one place? Maybe you’ve recently merged with or bought out another company, or your company has multiple legacy systems in place that you’ve never combined. So you may find yourself wondering whether it’s really important to take your contracts down to a single repository. You have all of your data stored somewhere. Isn’t that good enough? Unfortunately, keeping your contracts in multiple contract repositories across a single company can lead to a number of dangers. It will impact your business’s overall functionality and efficiency — not to mention your ability to deliver everything your clients expect from you. Read through these dangers and then check out our complete guide to creating a contract migration project.
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Danger #1: You may lose time looking for important contracts.
When all of your contracts are stored in one place, you can find them faster. Organizing them in one place with an intuitive naming or numbering system means you can easily access the contract. Also, you can find the client or vendor that you’re looking for at any given moment. If, on the other hand, you have contracts in multiple contract repositories, you may struggle to find the exact item you’re looking for. Searching for contracts can cost you valuable time, especially when you have a client or vendor waiting on a response from your business.
Danger #2: It’s impossible to generate reports that include all of your contracts.
When all of your contracts are in one place, you can use your contract management software to generate clear reports about expenses, averages, and anticipated profits. But when those contracts are spread across multiple contract repositories, you can’t. You may have to compile multiple incompatible reports together in order to create a comprehensive one. Switching to a single contract repository across your company, on the other hand, can allow you to more easily generate those reports. Then you can keep up with important data across your business.
Danger #3: Keeping contracts in multiple different places makes it easier for something to fall through the cracks.
When all your data is collected together in one location, you’ll be less likely to lose track of important data. It’s even better if you use enterprise contract management software that helps generate reminders and alerts. When your contracts are spread across numerous repositories, however, you’ll find that there are all too many places where things can fall through the cracks:
You may lose track of your contracts during the approval process.
Who has a specific contract? Has it been approved? With multiple repositories to choose from, it can prove incredibly difficult to keep track of those contracts. It’s also harder to make sure they move through the approval process quickly and effectively.
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You may struggle to ensure full implementation of all your contracts.
Keeping your contracts in one place means that you can more easily set up alerts and refer back to them as needed. If they’re in multiple repositories, then you may find it incredibly difficult to keep up with the terms of those contracts and ensure that you meet them properly.
You may face more compliance challenges.
When you keep your contracts in one repository, you can easily go through them to ensure industry and government compliance even as changes occur in your industry. With regular changes made to compliance regulations in many different fields, you may need to refer back to your contracts on a regular basis. But if that becomes inconvenient or too time-consuming, some contracts are going to slip through the cracks.
You may struggle to keep up with contract renewals.
By transitioning to a single contract repository, you can ensure that reminders and alerts appear when contracts are nearing the time they need to be renewed.
Danger #4: You may find it harder to keep up with current versions of contracts.
Imagine that you have been working with a client for years. Recently, you merged with another company. About that time, the client’s contract came up for negotiation. Some employees are storing information related to that contract on the original company’s system. But others are using the new system preferred by the company that you just merged with. Both teams think they’re doing the right thing.
Which version of the contract is the most current? Any inability to access the current version of your contracts will result in confusion. It can slow down the contract approval process. Also, it can even generate a lack of trust in your contractual partner. You seem less reliable if you struggle to keep up with changing clauses or prices in the contract.
On the other hand, when you keep all of your contracts in the same place, you’ll find it much easier to keep up with the latest version of your contract. Our enterprise contract management software will take care of version control for you.
If you’re still using multiple contract repositories for your business, tracking all of that vital data is harder. By making the move to a single contract management system, you’ll find that it’s easier to keep up with all of those important details. That makes your business more efficient and helps you deliver better service to your clients. See how our contract management system works by scheduling a 1:1 demo.
